PlayStation Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst claims that they have progressed far in integrating Bungie into PlayStation.
As reported by The Game Post, Hulst exact quote was that they “have made significant progress realizing synergies across the organization.” Hulst then went on to elaborate:
“For example, Bungie’s network operation expertise has allowed us to optimize the performance of our upcoming live service titles, which is really great. We expect to see the full integration of Bungie’s capabilities into our business operations by the end of this current fiscal year.
“We can’t disclose financials for individual studios in our portfolio, that includes Bungie. Whilst, we don’t expect profit contribution from Bungie in fiscal year 24 on a standalone basis, that is obviously to do with the fact that they are working on a new IP, that is yet to be released.”
Hulst also reiterated earlier claims that Bungie has been helpful in producing their live service games. He said:
“It’s really important to state that we are already seeing returns on our investment [in Bungie] in the form of process optimization and capability growth across SIE, particularly in live services. And, that was always the goal behind the acquisition, that has helped us to progress faster, it’s helped us with cost optimization.”
Finally, Hulst says that Sony expects to see huge revenues coming in from Destiny 2: The Final Shape and Marathon.
Hulst’s statements seem intended to restore confidence in the embattled studio. Perhaps we should have expected that Sony would not comment on any of the salacious rumors about behind the scenes issues at the developer. If they had done that, it would have come across as honest, but this is what Sony has decided to tell investors and the public.
What Hulst has said doesn’t indicate that Sony is interested in taking over the company from current management, to fill with their own people. That was one of the many rumors about what was going on behind the scenes. After negotiating their exit from Microsoft, and subsequently, entering and exiting their deal with Activision, Bungie apparently entered the one deal where they lost control over the situation.
At least for now, it seems their original gameplan with Bungie is still on. Bungie will make live service games, internally and helping Sony’s other studios, with the purpose of getting Sony into this side of the industry. Sony is willing to give up things like console exclusivity for this goal, and they also ponied up to get Bungie. What happens next to Bungie will depend on how all these games play out – Destiny 2: The Final Shape, Fairgame$, Marathon, Concord, and the unnamed Horizon live service game.
